


Bonds in Blood

by s0thathappened



Category: Penryn & the End of Days - Susan Ee
Genre: AU, Age Difference, All Human AU, Crime AU, F/M, Mafia AU, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-13
Updated: 2015-12-31
Packaged: 2018-04-26 03:41:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4988872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/s0thathappened/pseuds/s0thathappened
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mafia AU. Everyone's human. Raffe is part of the Brotherhood, a crime organization that rules over Bay City (sort of an alternate San Francisco). Penryn and her family get sucked into the world of crime when she crosses path with Raffe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_Somewhere in the middle:_

The shock of cold water jolted Penryn awake.

Not water. It tasted too sharp. Vodka. Ice cold vodka.

Penryn freaking hated vodka.

God. Her head was pounding so hard. She blinked, trying to focus on the blurry hand in front of her. She knew it was moving, but the  _snap snap snap_  seemed to be coming from somewhere far away.

She couldn't see the other hand.

The slap sent her head reeling. She could have sworn that she felt her teeth rattling and the ringing in her ears only intensified.

But the backhanding had jolted her back into reality. She was sitting, hands tied painfully tight behind her chair. She was in an office. A man stood before her, his suit immaculate and blindingly white.

His lips was moving but it took several seconds before she could make out the words.

"-quite a delight to discover you. I never thought that Raphael-"

"Uriel," she breathed. The name flew out of her mouth as all the air left her lungs. Terror seized her chest like a vice.

"She speaks!" Uriel beamed. "I'd been looking forward to meeting you, pet. Although…"

A knife skimmed over her cheek, skimming lightly over the bruises given to her earlier that day...or was it night? She wasn't sure, but she didn't think it would matter for very long as the steel curved over her neck.

"...You will not interrupt when I'm talking." Uriel was still smiling at Penryn like she was a long lost friend. He pressed the knife down on the skin above her collarbone. The cut was shallow, but it seeped crimson down to her already bloodstained shirt. "I really would not like to lose my temper with you, not when we're just making our acquaintance. I would like us to be friends."

He tapped her lips with his knife. "Don't you want us to friends, pet?"

Penryn jerked her head up and down.

She tried not to tremble. It hurt too much do so. Her body still ached from the earlier beating at the hands of Beliel and his thugs. With every breath, there was a pain in her side-an almost sure sign of a broken rib.

Uriel's eyes crawled over her body like two fat greedy spiders. She was completely covered with jeans and shirt, dirty and stained they might be, but she felt stripped by his gaze. She couldn't decide if it was better or worse that he seemed to linger on and relish the bruises on her pale skin.

"Now, you have me at a disadvantage," Uriel said. "You know my name but I don't know yours. What do I call you?"

They didn't know who she was. She silently thanked whatever angel had been smiling down on her for that minor miracle. It meant that she could still protect Paige and Mom.

"Phoebe...Phoebe Moon." Her mother's maiden name. Stupid because they might be able to trace it back, but it was the first name that popped up into her head and it was so hard to think with all the throbbing in her head…

"Phoebe Moon. Pretty name for a pretty girl." Uriel brushed a lock of black hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear. "Although, I thought I told you I wanted her face unblemished, Beliel."

"Accident in pickup." Penryn flinched at Beliel's voice. The hulking skinhead grinned as she craned her neck to look at him. He was off to the side in the shadows. Two more of his goons lurked by the door. "She didn't come willingly."

"That's disappointing, but a good lesson of what comes when you misbehave." Uriel tapped Penryn's chin with the knife and forced her to turn her gaze back at him. "And Beliel says that you haven't been answering any of our questions. But we're friends, aren't we, pet? Friends help each other out, don't they?"

Penryn forced herself to nod once more.

"Now, why don't you tell us where we can find Raphael?"

She closed her eyes and swallowed. Her mouth was so dry. She would kill for a glass of water.

Before the torture commenced once more.

"I don't know who you're talking-"

Uriel backhanded her. This time she was sure her teeth rattled. She licked her lips and tasted blood mixed with vodka.

"You're little games might have amused Beliel, but they won't work for me." He grabbed her hair, twisting a fistful of black strands around his hand to get a tighter grip. He leaned down and yanked hard, forcing her to look at him in the eye.

"I have no idea who Raphael is-"

Uriel's grip on her tightened. Penryn bit back a whimper, trying to hold onto the last thin threads of her pride.

"You have his ring." Uriel clicked the silver band on Penryn's right forefinger with his knife. "He loves that cheap piece of shit. I've never seen him go a day without it until I saw him give it to you. So tell me, little slut. Where. Is. Raphael?"

Penryn stared at the black and white carpet. There were flecks of red on it. Her blood. Undoubtedly, there'd be plenty more to stain it once Uriel was through.

She had gone through the same charade with Beliel.  _How do you know him? What are you to him? Where is he, where is he, where is Raphael goddammit, you little bitch?_

She only had one response, clinging to it even have they struck her over and over again, trying to beat the answer out of her.

_I don't know I don't know please please I don't know._

She wished she was a better liar, though it probably would not have been much help anyway. She really didn't know where Raffe was. She could've told the truth about the little she did know, and maybe it would have earned her a reprieve.

But Penryn couldn't bring herself to betray Raffe.

So she lied, desperately and poorly and repeating the same line over and over again because she didn't know what else to say. All of them knew she was lying and her captors beat her for it. Then they would try again, she'd lie again, and they'd beat her again. Around and around everyone went in this twisted game.

Uriel raised her head up and laid the flat plane of the knife against her neck.

Whether or not she gave up Raffe, Uriel would kill her. She only had to look at the cruel gleam in Uriel's eyes to figure out that much. If not Uriel, then it would be Beliel.

She was going to die tonight.

With that thought, Penryn started to cry. She was in eighteen. She was in  _high school_. She didn't want to die. Not like this. Not in the hands of a sadistic crime lord.

"Where is he?"

_I'm so sorry, Paige_.

She looked Uriel in the eye as he held a blade to her throat.

"I don't know."


	2. Chapter 2

_Back to the beginning._

Raphael groaned. Christ. He felt like he had been run over by a truck. He shifted and the pain only intensified. Make that ten trucks.

A cool hand pressed against his forehead. He instinctively tilted his head towards the soft touch.

"At least you don't have a fever," a voice murmured in the darkness. The hand fell away from his face. A towel replaced it, dabbing the sweat away. "That's a good sign."

He liked that voice. It was a nice voice. All soft and pretty and melodic.

"Maybe we shouldn't have ruled out concussion so fast."

Had he spoken out loud? He couldn't tell.

He didn't know that voice...where was he?

All at once, the memories of that night came flooding back.

Running into Beliel...the surprise attack...three against one and all he had was an unloaded gun...he fought as long as he could and then ran for it but they had been shooting at him…

He remembered the bullet tearing through his skin.

His eyes shot open and he jolted upright. Bad move. He cursed as his shoulder screamed in protest at the sudden movement. He tried to touch his arm but found his hands and feet duct-taped.

"Easy, buddy. We don't have any more bandages."

Raphael turned to the source of the voice. He blinked.

Midnight eyes. High cheekbones. Raven black hair. Red, red lips that he just wanted to bite.

There was a very beautiful girl sitting in front of him. And that very beautiful girl was currently pointing a gun at him.

Shit.

"Hi," the girl said.

Shit.

"Hello."

His eyes swept over his surroundings. He was laid out on the couch, a blanket puddled over his lap. The girl was sitting on a scuffed up coffee table backed up a good five feet away from him. They were in a sparsely furnished living room, with a kitchen tucked into the corner. The curtains were closed over the windows. The only source of light was a lamp to his left. Raphael tried to ignore how the girl's skin looked luminous in the soft golden light.

He took inventory. Four windows, one too small for him to fit through. Three doors. The one to his right had shoes littered around it-probably the exit. The lamp was too far and too big for him to use as a proper weapon. Still, the girl was tiny and the safety on the gun was on. He could probably overpower her, if he could get out of the duct-tape that had been so generously wrapped around his hands and feet.

He gave an experimental jerk to the ones at his hands. Tight, but not so much that it hurt.

"Please don't do anything stupid."

Her voice was steady, but the gun trembled in her hands. Barely discernable, but her hands were definitely shaking.

"Are you going to kill me?" Was this some kind of twisted joke of Beliel's?

"God, I hope not."

"Then can you stop pointing the gun at me?"

"No thanks."

"I thought you didn't want to hurt me?"

The girl's eyes flickered to the door to the door on his left.

"I don't want to hurt you but I really don't want you to hurt me."

And she really, really didn't want him to hurt whoever was on the other side of that door. Damn. He would have a lot harder time overpowering two people than one.

He looked down. A network of bandages littered his torso.

"I'm not wearing a shirt."

"Nice detective work, genius. It was hard to patch up your chest when you had a shirt on, Raffe."

His eyes narrowed. No one had called him that in years. "How do you know my name?"

"You told us. You were pretty out of it though, so I get why you don't remember. Mostly you just kept telling us, 'no hospitals, no hospitals.'"

Raphael didn't remember that. Then again, he didn't remember much past running desperately and getting shot.

"Thanks." Us...meaning that she definitely wasn't alone. He cleared his throat. "For patching me up, I mean."

The girl bit her lip and stayed silent. Raphael's gaze lingered on her lips for a second before coming back to her eyes.

"What's your name?"

Something flashes in the girl's eyes and for a second he thinks she won't answer.

"Penryn."

"Penryn," he repeated. Weird name. But he liked the way it flowed through his mouth. "It's nice to meet you, Penryn. I'd shake your hands, but…"

He held up his duct-taped wrists. He smiled, trying to give charm a shot. "You could cut me loose and we could introduce ourselves properly."

"No."

"You know, I don't let girls tie me up until after dinner and a movie."

"Yeah, I only dragged you off the street and fixed you up after a beating. Sorry if I forget to give you chocolates."

The corner of his lip twitched. He liked this girl, even if she was still pointing a gun at his face. He really didn't want to have to knock her out.

But he had to get going and soon. Beliel was bound to be looking for him to finish him off. And the Brotherhood was in complete disarray after Gabriel's death. He had to find Michael and Uriel and let them know some of their brothers had turned against their own.

Maybe he didn't have to get the jump on her. It couldn't be too hard to convince her to let him go.

He sat up as best as he could despite being tied up and bruised as hell.

"I promise I'm not going to hurt you, Penryn," he said softly. She bit her lip again. He could do this. He kept his eyes on hers and leaned forward. "No one needs to get hurt tonight."

He tilted his head toward the door to his left.

Big mistake. Whatever vulnerability he saw in her eyes was immediately shut down and locked away.

"I don't put much faith in promises made by  _criminals_ ," she snapped.

Raphael followed Penryn's gaze and found her looking at the space right above his heart, at his tattoo. It was a bold, black X, enclosed in a golden circle (Gabriel always called it a halo, the cheesy dead bastard). That alone was the symbol for the Brotherhood, although his own tat had two extra rings encircling it. One to mark his blood bond. The other to mark his position as commander.

He raised his eyebrows. Most people knew the name, but not the symbol. "How does a nice little girl like you know the sign for the Brotherhood?"

"Google."

"Seriously?"

"You thugs have your own wikipedia page."

"For someone who's so scared, you sure throw around insults pretty freely."

"I'm not afraid of you."

"Yes, you are. The terrified little girl, scared of the big bad wolf on her doorstep."

Raphael smiled, this time without any humor. He reclined on the couch, tipping his head back as he looked at her. Scared and naive and righteous. Or in a word, stupid. But she wouldn't kill him.

"For the record, you're the one who dragged me off the street and into your home. And it's Bay City, sweetheart. Everyone's either a criminal or a mark. At least the Brotherhood keeps the peace around here."

" _Peace_?" she hissed. "You call this  _peace_? Three of my neighbors were robbed last week. I walk past a new crime scene every time I go to work. My baby sister has to listen to gunshots and screams coming from outside every night-she's so scared she can barely sleep. What the  _hell_  is wrong with you?"

He frowned. She wasn't wrong.

"I know it's bad now, but it's only temporary." With Gabriel's death, not only was the organization thrown into chaos. Outside syndicates, sensing weakness like a wolf sniffs out blood, had descended upon the city in hopes of carving out some territory. Meanwhile, local gangs that had normally been minor nuisances had crawled out of the woodwork to create their own mayhem.

This needed to come to end. The Brotherhood had to be brought back to order so the civilians stopped dying. For his  _brothers_  to stop dying.

"Because everything was so peachy before Gabriel died," she said, sarcasm dripping like venom. He didn't know how she could inject so much acid into the word  _peachy_  but somehow she managed it. Hell of a girl.

"You're living the alternative, sweetheart. And how do you know about Gabriel?"

"Don't call me sweetheart-" she snarled, but she suddenly stopped short.

Someone knocked on the door.

Once. Twice.

A man's voice floated in from the outside.

"BCPD." The officer barked.

Raphael lunged at Penryn. But the injuries from the night before and his tied hands and feet had his instincts off balance. She managed to dodge him, and rammed her elbow into his throat.

"Shit," he wheezed, or tried to but hardly any noise came out. The bitch got him right in the windpipe.

"You're no one's sweetheart," he rasped.

"Shut up shut up shut up," she hissed. She pulled out a knife, but to his shock, instead of his throat, she went for his feet as she furiously sawed at the duct tape on his feet.

"What the f-"

"Ohmygodshutupshutup." She dragged him to his feet and pushed him towards the third mystery door. Christ, she was small but strong. He stumbled, his feet numb after being tied up and motionless for so long.

She open the door and shoved him inside. "I'll get rid of them. Don't make a sound."

She shut the door as gently as possible. Raphael knew it was stupid but he couldn't resist. He cracked the door open, just a hair, and looked out.

Penryn paused before the door as the knocking continued. She tucked the gun and knife behind her back, under the elastic of her pajama bottoms, and tugged her sweatshirt over her ass. Then she unlocked the door and opened it.

"Hello, officers. What can I do for you tonight?"

"Evening, miss. Can we speak to your parents please?"

"My mother isn't here right now. It's just me and my sister tonight."

"Are you old enough to be left on your own?"

"Yes, sir. I'm eighteen."

Seriously? She had looked young to Raphael, but  _eighteen_?

A voice in the back of his head whispered,  _Still legal_.

As if it mattered anyway.

Penryn was showing the officers her ID.

"Everything appears to be in order." The police officer held up something for her. "Miss, have you seen this individual? He is known to be in the vicinity and is armed and dangerous."

Raphael held his breath at Penryn's pause. He readied himself to bolt.

"He's 6'2? Sounds like a real Sasquatch."

 _Sasquatch?_ Raphael nearly snorted.  _I'd rather be a Sasquatch than a hobbit, you little brat_.

"Miss, please answer the question."

"No sir, I haven't seen him."

They asked her a few more questions, but Raphael let some of tension seem out of his body as she deflected them all.

She won't be winning any Oscars anytime soon, but she wasn't a complete idiot.

"Penryn?" The sleepy, high-pitched voice came from out of his tiny field of vision.

"Paige?" He saw Penryn turn her head. "Give me one second. I'm almost done."

She turned back to the officers. "I'm sorry I couldn't be of any help. I'll be sure to call if I see anything. I need to put my sister back to sleep, so good night. Thank you for your service!"

She all but slammed the door in their faces. She spun around and leaned back against the door, pressing the heels of palms against her eyes.

"Penryn?"

"Hey, Paige, baby." Penryn rushed out of his eyeline toward the source of the young voice. "I'm so sorry. Did we wake you?"

"S'ok. I had a nightmare…"

As Penryn murmured words of comfort, Raphael listened for the sound of the police car pulling away. Once he was sure the coast was clear, he skulked out of his hiding spot.

"Thank you for your service?" Raphael scoffed. "Could you be any more obvious?"

Penryn rolled her eyes and put her fists on her hips. "Oh look, I've found me a Sasquatch. I better call the Discovery Channel."

A giggle came from behind her. A little girl in pink pajamas and a wheelchair rolled up to him. She was like a bite-size version of Penryn, except this little girl actually smiled.

Penryn had said she had a baby sister.

"You're Raffe!" She rolled up to him. Penryn stuck close to her sister's back like a magnet. "I'm very glad to see that you're awake. My name is Paige. It's very nice to meet you!"

She stuck out a tiny little hand for him to shake, all smiles and welcomes and sunshine. It was a near comical contrast to her sister's expression, which promised certain and painful death if he pulled any shit in front of Paige.

"Nice to meet you, too, Paige." He shook her hand and smiled awkwardly. He met eyes with Penryn.  _See, I can play nice_.

Her eyes seemed to reply,  _I will end you if you screw this up_.

"Why are your hands duct-taped?"

 _It's because your sister is a vicious little harpy, kid_.

"He kept scratching his bandages in his sleep," Penryn answered for him. "Mom and I decided it would be better if we just tied up his hands for a little while."

That was the worst lie in the history of bad lies. Raphael would have rolled his eyes if he wasn't a little bit afraid Penryn would stab him for it.

"You were hurt very badly when I found you. Are you feeling better now?"

"Yeah, way better. Thanks for asking." His throat still hurt like a bitch though. "You were the one that found me."

Paige nodded enthusiastically. "I was looking for Mr. Wilkens-"

"Her cat," Penryn interjected.

"-but I wasn't supposed to go out alone. Penryn and Mom found me right when I found you in the alley behind the dumpster-"

"With the rest of the trash," Penryn mumbled under her breath.

"-and Penryn took him home and then used my chair to bring you back to our house. She and Mom took care of you and fixed you up."

"Wow, kid. Uh, thanks for your help."

"Penryn did everything," Paige said. She was missing one of her top teeth. She gave Penryn a wide, gap-toothed smile. "She's like a superhero."

Penryn stroked Paige's hair and squeezed her shoulder. "Don't be so modest, little Dalai Lama. He definitely wouldn't be here without you."

Paige blushed and turned back to Raphael.

"Mom said you were shot."

"It just grazed him. It barely hit him," Penryn said.

"Yeah, I'm practically as good as new already," said Raphael. It only hurt like hell.

"Who shot you?"

Raphael bit back a comment about how it was impolite to ask a victim of violence what they did to be attacked. "Some bad guys."

"Is that why the police were here?"

"Sort of. They were definitely looking for a bad guy." He smirked at Penryn, who to his surprise and pleasure, flushed pink.

"O-kay, that's enough for now. Raffe needs to eat and you need to sleep. Off to bed with you," Penryn said.

"Is Mom back yet?"

A shadow fell over Penryn's face. She gave a forced smile.

"No, not yet. You know how she needs a little alone time. She'll be back in the morning."

"Okay. Good night, Penryn. Good night, Raffe."

"Good night, baby." Penryn kissed the top of Paige's head and shooed her off.

"Not going to help her into bed?" Raphael asked when the door shut behind Paige's wheels.

"She's plenty capable by herself," Penryn said. She pulled the gun back out.  _Hello, old friend_. "Besides, I'm not giving you a chance to sneak off."

"Superheroes usually aren't so violent."

"It's a good thing I'm  _like_  a superhero and not actually one." She nodded at the kitchen counter. "Sit."

He sat down on a stool while she stood across from him, with the counter in between them.

"You're not going to kill me, you're not going to turn me in, you're not going to let me go." Raphael ticked off the list. "What the hell are you going to do with me?"

"I'm going to feed you." She tore open a granola bar with her free hand and her teeth and placed it front of him. She cracked open a water bottle the same way and gave it to him as well. "I'm going to check your injuries in the morning. And when it's safe for us, I'm going to let you go."

"When it's safe for us?"

"For me and my family." Penryn sighed, looking both too young and too old for her eighteen years.

Eighteen wasn't that far from twenty-four, was it?

"We barely had you inside for five minutes before the patrols started. At first, it was the same three cars going around and around the neighborhood. They were way too nice to belong to anyone who lived around here and they kept circling back. Then the police started circling. But you were already here. Even if I dumped you out on the street still bleeding, which would have a majorly wrong thing to do, my family would still have been screwed. The people who had hurt you might come after us if they connected us back to you. Or the police might catch you leaving and then my Mom and I go to jail for harboring a criminal. So no, you're not leaving until the cops and the goons all stop sniffing around."

Raphael played with the water bottle cap and said nothing.

Not stupid. Scared and naive and righteous, but not stupid.

"And if dirty cops found you, it would have been a toss up between them killing you or arresting you. Probably arresting and then killing you."

Penryn went pale. He couldn't really blame her.

"I thought all the dirty cops belonged to the Brotherhood."

"Yeah, they do." Raphael's fist closed around the bottle cap and he squeezed until his knuckles turned white. The cops belonged to Uriel.

Beliel sure as hell wouldn't have called the regular police on him. And there was only one person who commanded enough dirty cops to conduct a manhunt for him.

His brother was trying to kill him. His least favorite brother, but his blood-bonded brother nonetheless.

He was going to kill him. He was going to fucking kill him.

Raphael bit back his rage and bottled it down. Now was not the time to lose it.

He breathed slowly until he thought he could speak normally.

"You could've told me from the very beginning," he said. He looked up at Penryn. "You didn't need to hold me at gunpoint. Or do so now."

"I got side-tracked at first. And even if you cared enough about my family's safety to wait, you're still a member of the Brotherhood. I'm not going to let a violent criminal wander around my home. You already tried to attack me once."

His lip twitched. "You defended yourself pretty well. Even if you only got lucky."

"That's not an apology."

"Sorry."

"Apology not accepted."

"You're so mean. There are man-eating crocodiles nicer than you."

"I wish I were a man-eating crocodile. It would solve so many of my problems."

Raphael smirked. "You want to eat me up, Penryn?"

"Don't feed you own ego. Pathetic, much?" she shot back. But she blushed again-which had been his goal in the first place.

"You're the one who's been sneaking glances at my chest all night long. Clearly, you like what you see."

"I was looking at your tattoos. I was wondering which ones you got in  _jail_." He didn't think it was possible, but she was blushing even brighter.

"Only one of them. The others I got as a free man. Do you want to see the rest?"

"Eat your stupid granola bar, you perv."

He was tempted to ask her to feed it to him, just to get a rise out of her. Instead, he managed to eat with his hands still duct-taped. He should be irritated that he was still bound. He should be furious that one of his own was trying to murder him. But no, annoying her was surprisingly good for his mood.

 _Flirting with her_ , the voice in the back of his mind corrected.

Maybe, but he didn't mean anything by it. Absolutely nothing at all.

"How do you know so much about the Brotherhood anyway?" he asked between bites.

She shrugged. "My dad. He was obsessed with crimes in Bay City, particularly the Brotherhood. I basically learned to read from sitting on his lap while he read the crime reports in the newspaper. You guys tend to keep things quiet, but not secret." She narrowed her eyes as a new thought ran through her head. "If you sic any of your Brotherhood cronies on my family, I will come after you."

"I wouldn't dream of it." She probably would, the little spitfire. She'd probably get herself killed, too.

"Did your dad teach you how to handle a gun, too?" he asked, trying to distance himself from that discomforting thought.

"Yeah, this used to be his." She tapped a finger on the gun that she still had pointed at him. Didn't her arm ever get tired?

"Used to? Is he dead?"

"No."

Again, the shields went up and her eyes went hard. This time she wasn't protecting anyone behind a door. She was putting up the guard for own sake.

"I'll pay you back," he said. The words spilled out of him under her dark, unfathomable gaze. "For treating my injuries and for protecting me." He shook his head when she started to argue. "I know you're looking out for your family, but you're also protecting me. That counts for something. I'll pay my debt to you."

Penryn studied him for a moment.

"You don't need to do anything," she said finally. "Just make sure no one comes after my family once you leave. And stay away from us. We're safer without you."

She hesitated and then added, "And don't get yourself killed."

He grinned. "Would you miss me if I were gone?"

"No."

"It's understandable if you've already fallen madly in love with me. Greater women than you have succumbed to my charms."

"I said don't let anyone else kill you. You're still welcome to trip over your own massive ego, fall into a hole, and die."

"You'd still miss me though."

"You wish."

Raphael just finished the rest of his granola bar in smug silence. At least the darkness in her eyes had gone away, even if there were still bags under eyes.

"Are you going to stay up all night?"

"Plan on it."

"It's a school night. You need to be up bright and early to learn."

"Tomorrow a furloughed day for the teachers. I don't need to go."

His jaw nearly dropped.

"Wait, you're still in  _high school_?" he asked, aghast.

"I'm in my senior year," she said defensively.

"I'm being held at gunpoint by a schoolgirl. This is humiliating." He had asked a high school student if she wanted to  _eat him_.

He never felt like more of a dirty old man in his life. He was definitely going to hell.

"If it makes a dent on your ego then it could only be a-"

The front door opened. They both jumped up and turned.

Penryn sucked in a breath.

"Hi, Mom."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome. :)


	3. Chapter 3

Penryn stowed away the gun under the elastic of her pajama bottoms again.

She doubted that Mom would care what Penryn was doing with it, but Penryn thought the less that Mom knew about the locations of any lethal weapons in the house, the better. She would have gotten rid of it weeks ago if she had an idea how to get rid of unlicensed gun without running into trouble.

It was good thing she hadn't-it would have made babysitting a wanted criminal in her living room a lot harder if she had.

"Mom?" Penryn repeated when she didn't respond, continuing to stand still in the doorway.

That seemed to do the trick. Her mother closed the door behind her and locked it. She shrugged off her jacket-at least Mom remembered to bring one along with her for the midnight prowling this time-and let it drop to the floor.

"So you're awake?" she asked, cocking her head, not moving out from the shadow of the dim yellow light.

Raffe's gaze flickered between her and Mom. Penryn moved to Raffe's side of the kitchen counter and edged between the two. She wasn't entirely sure which one she was trying to guard.

"Yes, ma'am," he said, standing up. He was at least smart enough to wipe that annoying smirk off his face. "Thank you for taking me in. I'm very grateful for your hospitality."

"How could we do otherwise?" Her mother shuffled closer to them. "The bible tells us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. We would never turn away an angel left on our doorstep."

"That's...well, thanks." Raffe looked at Penryn, clearly looking for some guidance.

She had to resist the urge to shrug. The angel stuff was new. Usually demons were her mother's favorite biblical subject.

"Of course, you might not be an angel at all. Demons are always looking for a way in…" Penryn almost flinched when her mother cupped her cheek, while still staring at Raffe. "Be sober, be vigilant. Because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour."

Her mother's nails dug lightly into Penryn's skin as she turned her unblinking gaze to her. "Keep the demons at bay, daughter."

With that, Penryn's mother turned on her heel and departed for the bedroom.

Penryn and Raffe stood in silence for a good minute after the door clicked shut behind Mom. Penryn went to the front door to check they were properly locked. They were. Another first. Sighing, she scooped up her mother's jacket off the floor and draped it over the couch.

Raffe broke the silence.

"Your mother is…"

"Yeah, I know."

"Does she always directly quote from the bible?"

"Probably. I can't really tell." There must be at least a dozen bibles lurking in different corners of the house right now, but she's never cracked one open in her life. The most extensive experience she ever had with the good book was using it to kill a cockroach.

"I wouldn't have pegged you for the religious type," she said.

"I'm not," he said. Penryn immediately stepped back as he moved towards the couch. As he casually settled back on that, she returned to her seat on the coffee table, with her father's gun pointing at Raffe once again.

Back in the original positions from the beginning of the night. Only he looked a hell of a lot of more relaxed this time.

"My brother was a God-fearing man, though," he continued. "He read the Bible to me every night for years and made sure my ass was in church every Sunday."

"Swell. The family that prays together, kills together."

"You would know." He nodded at her gun. "Isn't your arm getting tired?"

Yes. "No."

"Why was your mother out so late? Does she work nights?"

"No."

These past couple of months, Mom had picked up the habit of wandering around in the middle of the night. It scared the crap out of Penryn, especially since things in the city have gotten so bad lately. On top of that, their new home was in a way worse neighborhood than the condo they had moved out of a couple weeks ago. But no matter how much Penryn pleaded, she couldn't convince her mom to stay instead and Penryn couldn't afford to leave Paige all alone at home to look for Mom.

She couldn't stop Mom from running away from imaginary demons. She had to protect Paige from the actual bad guys. Even the ones that Paige brought home as if they were lost puppies.

"If you're gonna keep me tied up and hostage, can you at least try to speak in full sentences," he said. "Conversation with you is basically my only source of entertainment right now."

"Go to sleep if you're bored."

"Kind of hard to sleep with my hands taped together. Plus I think your mom might try to smother me in my sleep."

"She wouldn't do that." Probably. Mom's been getting more and more erratic lately, but she hasn't caused any serious damage. Yet.

"I was only kidding."

"It wasn't funny."

"Humor's not my strong suit. No one needs to be funny when they're this good looking."

"It must be exhausting to be so in love with yourself."

Not that Penryn could really blame him. God had probably taken a day off to sculpt such a perfect face-strong jaw, straight nose, long lovely eyelashes, full lips (though she tried not to linger on that too much). He had gorgeous caramel skin and a silky black mop of hair to match. On top of that, he had the physique of an Olympic swimmer. Even with all the injuries and tattoos littering his shoulders and chest, he was absurdly attractive.

And those eyes. Those blue, blue eyes.

Had she spent a few moments ogling him when he had been knocked out? Maybe. Between work, school, and her family there hadn't been time for dating this past year and it looked like her situation wasn't going to change anytime soon. It was no surprise that she found him as attractive as she did.

"I kind of really hate you," she said.

"That's good. It means you're not total idiot." He shifted to lay down on the couch, but squirmed as he tried to find a comfortable position. "I'll go to bed if you will."

"That'll be hard since you're the one sleeping on my bed," she said, nodding towards the couch.

Raffe raised his eyebrows. "Makes sense. It feels like this thing was built for munchkins, not normal-sized people."

A gunshot echoed distantly in the night, followed by a scream.

Penryn bit the inside of her cheek, trying to keep her expression neutral. She went over to the window. She peeked between the curtains, but only saw one of the goon's cars passing by once again.

"It's too far away for you to worry about," he said.

"This time."

For once, that shut him up. She opened the bedroom door a crack to see if the shots had woken Paige up. Thankfully, she sleeping. She had her little hand resting on Mom's cheek. Mom was curled up into a ball beside her, looking more peaceful asleep than she ever did awake.

They were safe. No thanks to her. Penryn nearly had a heart attack when she couldn't find Paige earlier that night. She couldn't stop imagining all the horrible things that could happen to a helpless little girl in a wheelchair in the dark. And her mother...she had finally stopped spending all day in bed crying only to start wandering around at night when all hell was breaking loose in the city. That she kept coming back home safely was a matter of sheer dumb luck.

And she had pulled them all out of the frying pan and chucked them straight into the fire. A hunted criminal was sitting in her living room. He was the enemy, he was the threat. And she was chatting with him like they were at a sleepover.

_What was wrong with her?_

"What happened to Mr. Wilbur?"

She snapped out of her internal spiral of gloom and doom.

"What?"

"The cat? Did you end up finding him?"

"It's Mr. Wilkens. And no. I'm pretty sure he ran away." Unless Mom had mistaken him for a demon in the middle of the night and iced him. Which probably hadn't happened.

Hopefully.

"That's too bad for your little sister. She's a sweet kid."

"She is."

"I guess niceness skips generations in your family."

"Can you stop making wisecracks?" Penryn sat cross-legged on the coffee table.

"Can you let my hands free?"

"No."

"Then no." He tried twisting his wrists inside the confines of the tape, but didn't have much luck. "Come on. Seriously, what am I going to do to you? We've already established that I'm going to be stuck here for a while and that I don't want to hurt you. Besides, you're the one with the gun."

"Yeah, I bet you're terrified of me."

"You do have a mean elbow jab. Where did you learn to fight anyway? Stealing the freshmen's lunch money?"

"I've been in self-defense classes for years. And I'm pretty sure that out of the two of us, you're more likely to have been the school bully."

"Can't be a bully when you've never been to school. And self-defense classes aren't that helpful. The only way you can learn is through experience in the heat of the moment."

"Yeah, I bet you got a lot of experience from running around and killing people."

"I did."

Penryn fought back a shudder. The worst part was how casually he said it.

No. The worst part was how easily she forgot. Again.

He was looking at her again, watching her reaction. There was no doubt or guilt clouding those clear blue eyes.

It must be so nice to not feel anything. Being a complete monster actually sounded tempting for once.

Penryn shifted to wrap her arms around her legs and rest her chin on her knees.

"Why?"

Raffe shrugged. "Why I've killed people? Mostly because they were trying to kill me. Or they were the scum of the earth. Sometimes-"

"I mean why do you this at all. Killing, crime, the Brotherhood...just why?"

"It's a living."

"Seriously? That's all you have to say?"

"You're getting way too philosophical about this. I do this because this is what I've always done."

"What you've always done? Were you brainwashed as a kid or something?"

"I was never brainwashed. It's about survival. And family. I was living on the street when Gabriel found me. He fed me, clothed me, gave me a home, gave me brothers."

"And he only asked you to become a criminal in return." Screw him and his patient, condescending tone.

"He never made me do anything I wasn't willing to do myself. It's not like you wouldn't understand. You'd do anything to protect your sister-"

"Don't." Penryn bit back the urge to scream at him and set the gun down next to her. Her fingers clenched as she laid her hand over the muzzle. "Don't you dare compare me and my sister to your twisted gang."

"You're ready to kill me in order to protect her. How is this any different?"

"It's different because Paige would never ask me to hurt anyone for her sake. And she definitely would never ask me to hurt people for money or drug or whatever the hell the Brotherhood wants."

"She's a little girl now. Her tune might change when she gets older."

Penryn didn't know whether to laugh at him or punch him. "You have no idea what you're talking about. The only reason you're here and alive is because of Paige insisted on helping you."

"And look how great that turned out for you," he said quietly.

They stared at each other in the dark for two heartbeats, three. Penryn dug her nails into the palms of her hand as the silence dragged on.

"Look, you can hate me if you want to," he said softly. "But I'm just trying to help you. This isn't about good guys versus bad guys. This is about survival. The sooner you realize that, the better off you will be."

Penryn fought back a sudden, burning lump in her throat. She bit the inside of her cheek again and breathed slowly through her nose.

 _I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not lose it in front of him_.

Survival. Hadn't that been her mantra for the past year? Life hadn't been easy before, but ever since her dad hadn't left a year ago, things wouldn't stop falling apart. With Mom being in no state to work and no money left, they had to move out of the condo. The best they could afford that was anywhere near Paige's school was on Rosewater Street, or as the neighborhood was better known as, the Ruins. Even with her jobs, it was hard to make enough for rent and medication while still putting food on the table and going to high school. She would've dropped out if she didn't have only a few months left.

And it didn't help that she had lost her main job at the convenience store. It wasn't her fault that the place had been burned down in a new turf war, but she was screwed anyway.

No job, no money, no future.

Survival was her endgame. Too bad she sucked at it.

It was past three in the morning now. Only a couple more hours until daybreak. Maybe he'd be able to leave soon after that. If he had to stay until next nightfall, the stress might kill her.

They were both quiet after that. Raffe finally fell asleep after a while-his injuries taking their toll on his stamina. She had almost completely dozed off, too, until screeching police sirens yanked them out of sleep. Raffe had jumped up again, but Penryn had shoved him back on the couch and watched the police cars whiz down the street from behind the curtains.

They both let out a breath of relief when the sound of the sirens faded off into the distance.

"Shit." Raffe scrubbed his hands over his face. At some point in the night, he had managed to wrangle off the duct tape. Sneaky bastard, but she couldn't bring herself to give him grief over it. If he could get out one time, he could get out again.

"Do you want to use the bathroom?" she asked.

"Christ, yes."

She gestured to the room she had shoved him into the police came. He berated her for refusing to close the door, but hey she kept her back turned, didn't she?

"Can we at least watch some TV?" he asked, drumming his fingers on the arm of the couch.

"We don't have one."

"That's downright un-American."

"We don't need a TV when we already have a laptop."

"Tiny-ass computer screens don't do it for me."

"What would you watch anyway?"

" _Law and Order_."

She rolled her eyes. "Ha ha. That's hilarious."

"I'm not kidding. I love that show. And nature documentaries are my shit."

"Fine. Don't tell me if you don't want to."

"What? Thought I'd be into  _Breaking Bad_  and  _The Sopranos_?"

"Well...yeah."

"I'm not that big of a cliche. I like  _The Walking Dead_ , too."

She made a face. "Apocolypse stuff. Not for me."

"What is for you?"

She shrugged. "I'm not really into TV. I'm more of a movie person. Particularly Disney and Pixar." Why had she admitted that? She already was having trouble intimidating him.

"Let me guess-your favorite is  _Mulan_?"

She cocked an eyebrow. "What, is it because I'm Asian?"

"A little bit. Mostly because you're always trying to give off the warrior woman vibe."

Trying and failing. And Mulan was only her third favorite Disney movie. "Wrong. My favorite is  _Wall-e_."

He groaned. "You have got to be kidding me. Half the movie was him squeaking and repeating wall-e over and over again."

"Alright, what's your favorite then?"

" _Peter Pan_." He grinned. "I would love to fly."

There was no way. No way that someone like him had watched  _Wall-e_  and  _Peter Pan_. And there was no way in hell that they were actually having a conversation about the best Disney movies. It was too weird.

And yet, that's exactly what they did. About movies and food and just general random things. They managed to talk their way around the massive elephant in the room for the rest of the night and well into the morning. It was so easy it was absurd.

It shouldn't be this pleasant to talk to members of the mafia. Seriously.

Of course, she didn't put away her gun until Paige came out. After that, she had made them all breakfast. The parade of bizarre reached its climax when they had all ended up on the couch, watching  _Tangled_  of all things.

And that was because Raffe had insisted on watching that rather than  _Frozen_.

What. The. Actual. Hell.

"You could wipe that dumb expression off your face," Raffe whispered shile Paige was in the bathroom. "Your baby sister probably thinks you're having a stroke or something."

"I think I might actually be having a stroke," she whispered back. "Or you knocked me out so hard I'm now hallucinating."

"Relax. I might be a tough guy, but I can adapt. Paige clearly runs this house, so I'll follow her rules. She wants this Disney shit, we watch Disney shit."

Penryn would have objected to the idea of her eight-year old sister being the boss, but she couldn't really argue. Raffe was still here, wasn't he?

Early that afternoon, Paige was picked up for a sleepover at her friend's house. Penryn made her promise not to say anything about Raffe and let her cheerfully say her goodbyes to a bemused Raffe.

Penryn checked on her mother, who was still curled in bed fast asleep.

"Should we wake her up?" Raffe asked.

"No, I don't think that would be a good idea." Her mother was too unpredictable these days.

"Smart." He fiddled with a silver ring on his pinky finger. It was so weird seeing him in her father's old clothes. They were way less conspicuous than the bloody rags he'd been left with last night, but they still didn't fit him quite right. Particularly since Raffe's shirt declared him to be the champion of the intercity amateur bowling league.

"Here." Penryn tugged off her old sweatshirt and handed it to him. It was a couple sizes too big for her, but it might fit him. "Take this."

He gave her a look she couldn't read. She rubbed her hands up and down her bare arms, cold now that she was down to a thin tank. "Look, it's unisex and black. No one's going to think you look girly in it and it's less conspicuous than the shirt.

"Fine."

"Do you think it's safe to leave now?" she asked as he tugged it over his head.

He winced as he maneuvered his hurt shoulder to get his arm to fit through the sleeve. "It's as safe as it'll get. The patrols have stopped, but they might start again at night. I doubt going out in the dark will help me that much. And I need to get going as soon as possible. I've wasted too much time already."

She almost asked him why he was in such a hurry, but then remembered it didn't matter. She shouldn't care.

"Just don't get caught," she said as they stood at the back door of her house. "And if you do, don't drag my family down with you."

"You're such a sweetheart. Don't ever lose that quality."

"Whatever." She bit her lip. "There's….there's an abandoned church a couple blocks away. One the corner of Robb and Hart. It might be a good place to lie low in case you need it."

"Thanks." He didn't seem to know where to look either. "You don't need to help me this much."

"Yeah." She felt her cheeks grow warm.

"You're pretty nice for someone who claims to hate me."

"Kind of. I kind of hate you." She cleared her throat and crossed her arms. "Well, I'd say see you later, but I really hope that never happens."

His lip twitched and his eyes swept over her face, as if he were trying to memorize her features.

"Have a nice life, Penryn."

"You, too, Raffe."

If she were Paige, this is the part where she would've hugged him and wished him luck.

Instead, she unlocked the back door and watched him hop over the fence into her neighbor's yard.

With that, he was gone from her life. As quickly and simply as he had come crashing into it.

Penryn ignored the little twinge in her heart and focused on the relief blooming through her chest.

"Good luck, Raffe," she whispered to herself.


	4. Chapter 4

“So, how’s your week been?” Lisa asked.

“Uneventful,” Penryn said. _Except for the sleepover with a fugitive_. “Yours?”

“You know, same old, same old.” Lisa flicked an ant making its way over green tiles.

They were both crouched under a lab table, like the rest of their classmates in biology class. The lights were off and the teacher had placed black paper over the small door window.

The school was in lockdown, as it was required to do whenever there was “dangerous police activity” (a.k.a. a shooter) within several blocks of the institution. The policy was to basically lock all doors, cover up the windows, and sit in absolute silence and darkness.

Because hiding and hoping the danger goes away is always a great strategy.

In any case, this was the third lockdown in the past few weeks. Absolute silence and darkness were suggestions rather than actual procedure at this point. The room hummed with idle teenage chitchat while there was a faint general glow emanating from all the electronics being fiddled with.

The teacher wasn’t much better. He was sitting on his desk with his feet up, watching cat videos on his phone.

“You know, I thought the whole point of school was to _stop_ me from ending up on my knees in a dark room with sweaty strangers,” Lisa grumbled.

“You can’t fight fate, babe.” Christian Rockman jeered from under the table next to them. “I’ve heard you’ve gotten plenty of practice with Brandon Sykes.”

Penryn delivered a savage kick to his shin.

His snickers quickly turned into whimpers of pain as he curled up into a ball on the floor, clutching his leg.

“Psycho bitch!”

“Maggot,” Lisa said disdainfully. She bumped her shoulder with Penryn’s and raised an eyebrow. “But did such a lowly creature warrant such retribution?”

“Yes. He was talking trash about you.”

“Then I thank you for defending my honor. But that's not the only thing troubling my brave knight, is it?”

Penryn’s lip twitched up. “I guess I'm a little bit tense.”

Lisa clucked her tongue sympathetically. “Job-hunting stressing you out?”

“Yes.” _Amongst other things._

“Maybe you could put in some more hours at the self-defense studio?”

“I already asked. Unless someone quits, they don't have room for me for more than a couple hours a week. There a liquor store on Margo and Dauphine I might try.”

“You work too hard.”

“Actually, my problem is that I can't find work.”

“No, your problem is that you can't unwind. You need to let loose and have some fun, otherwise you'll keep assaulting every asshole who crosses your path.”

“Sounds like I'm providing the world a service.”

“Oh you are, but you'll also probably end up in jail. No, I was thinking something equally physical but less violent.” Lisa tilted her head and idly twirled a lock of her red hair.

Penryn recognized that look. That twinkle in Lisa’s eye only came when she was about to drag Penryn into a misadvised and usually disastrous adventure.

“No.”

“I haven't said anything yet!”

“You don't need to. You've got trouble written all over your face.”

Lisa gave Penryn a wicked smile. “Me, trouble? Don't be absurd. I was just suggesting a girls’ night.”

“Well, I guess that doesn't sound too bad.” Penryn narrowed her eyes, feeling like she was being lured into a trap. “I think Paige will be sleeping over at a friends’ in a couple days, so I might be free...”

“Awesome. My brother’s boyfriend’s cousin is the new bouncer at a club downtown. He can totally let us in.”

“No. Absolutely no way.”

“Oh, don't worry, you can totally borrow a dress from my sister.”

“Lisa, have you gone nuts? The city is trying to set itself on fire. I am not going to some skeezy club in the middle of the night with all this going on.”

“It's totally not skeezy. And I know this neighborhood sucks, but it's not so bad in other places. _And_ we’ll take a cab to and from there, I'll completely cover for it. Come on, it'll be fun.”

“Don't you remember the last time you dragged me to a club? You ditched me for some college guy.”

Lisa waved her hand dismissively. “Folly of my youth. I'm above such errors now.”

“Congratulations. Still not going.”

Lisa shrugged and studied her fingernails. “Sure, if that's what you want to believe.”

Penryn squinted at her best friend. “You're not going to let this go, are you?”

“Oh, absolutely not.”

 

* * *

  


Penryn headed straight for the liquore store after school. The most direct route would have had her pass by the church she had mentioned to Raffe almost a week ago.

She took a five minute detour to avoid it.

To her relief, the cardboard sign with “HELP WANTED” scrawled on it was still up. The door buzzed as she stepped inside. A chubby, bald man with a fat, furry caterpillar of mustache and an unlit cigarette between his teeth stood behind the counter. He didn’t bother to look up from his newspaper when she approached him.

The headline splashed across the front page read “CITY ON FIRE. VIGILANTES RUN AMOK.” In the corner was an article announcing the plan to transport some inmates from Bay City Prison to ones farther away from the city.

“Um, excuse me?” she said tentatively. The man didn’t look up. “Is the store still looking to hire someone?”

Caterpillar Mustache’s eyes flickered up from the newspaper and scanned her up and down. Penryn wished she had bothered to stop at home so she could have put on something other ratty, oversized sweatshirt and dropped off her backpack.

He gave a barely perceptible shrug. He reached under the counter and tossed a form in front of her. Folding up his newspaper, he tucked it under his armpit and shuffled off to the storeroom in the back.

Penryn looked at the form. It was pretty standard--basic background and contact info.

Guess she passed the first part of the job interview. She wasn’t going to complain.

She found a spot on the counter away from being directly in front of the checkout station and in between jars of candy and old two-dollar watches. She dug out a pen from the bottom of her backpack and got to work filling out the application.

As she was checking off “no” on the box that asked if she had ever been convicted a felony, the door buzzed again.

Absentmindedly, her eyes flickered to the curved mirror facing the entrance. She did a double-take and dropped her pen at what she saw.

Oh, there was definitely a god. And He really didn’t like Penryn.

 

* * *

  


Raphael tugged his hood a little bit more firmly over his head. He hadn’t been recognized on the street. The store was almost deserted and he knew the security cameras were just for show. Still, it didn’t hurt to be cautious.

There was nobody at the counter but some girl practically drowning in her own sweatshirt, with her back turned to him.

Joseph was probably at the back. Raphael considered going into the stockroom, but knew Joseph would sooner shoot someone before letting them come into his space without his permission, commander or not.

Well, disgraced commander-turned-fugitive. Joseph was one of the few people left in the Brotherhood that he could trust not to stab in the back. He wasn’t sure who else might be in Uriel’s pocket or brainwashed by him.

He was also Raphael’s contact with Michael. Raphael had gone straight to Joseph’s store as soon he could. At the time, Joseph could only tell him that last he heard, Michael had left Russia, but that was all he knew. He told Raphael to give him a couple days to get back in contact and relay his message to Michael.

“Don’t take any unnecessary risks, Joseph,” Raphael had warned. “They’ll come after you if they found out you were helping me.”

Joseph had dismissively spat on the ground and told him to stay alive until Wednesday.

Raphael tried to ignore the single other customer in the store but something familiar about her kept tugging at his brain. And even with her back to him, he could practically feel the tension radiating from her.

Casually, he went to the front of the counter to pretend to peruse the short rack of sunglasses. From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of her face.

Fuck.

It was _her_.

What the hell was she doing here? The store wasn’t exactly on the opposite of side of town, but there were plenty of other places to buy cheap food and booze in between here and her place.

Despite himself, he tried to catch her eye. She seemed determined to pretend he didn’t exist. She was doing a shit job at it. She was clutching a pen so tightly that her knuckles had turned white and her eyes were flickering in between the paper in front of her and the exit.

He could read the furrow in her brow and her clenched jaw so clearly that she might as well stick a sign onto her face. _If I ignore him long enough, he’ll probably leave eventually._

She obviously wanted to bolt, but something was keeping her here. Tough luck. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be nearly as important as what he was dealing with.

In any case, it was too dangerous for her to hang around Joseph’s store. Too many unsavory characters tramping through here.

He looked at the paper in front of her. _Penryn Young_. Her full name listed, along with a bunch of other details needed for a job application.

Fucking Joseph. He should know better.

She instantly stiffened when he moved closer, but didn’t step back.

Not the type to run away, but stand her ground. Admirable.

And annoying.

Deliberately, he placed his hand over the paper and leaned in close enough to whisper, on the off chance that Joseph was listening.

“Leave,” he said. She whipped her head around to look at him. They were almost nose to nose. “And don’t come back.”

They stared at each other for a beat.

Her lip curled, as if she were biting back a snarl. He saw the fight in her and braced himself.

But whatever she saw in his eyes seemed to be enough. She turned away, swiped the paper away from him, and crumpled it in one hand.

Smart girl.

From outside, he could hear the screech of a car braking.

“It wouldn’t kill you to say please,” she muttered under her breath as she stuffed the crumpled paper and a pencil bag into her backpack. Her hands shook slightly. She threw her backpack over her shoulder but in her hurry she forgot to zip it closed. The contents spilled out.

He instinctively knelt down with her to help her. She shoved his hands away as she tried to cram everything back in her bag.

“I’ve got it, leave it alone--”

Joseph emerged from the back. He arched an eyebrow at the scene in front of him. Before he could make a comment, the door buzzed again.

Raphael felt the wrongness of the situation, could almost hear the danger humming in the air, before he even looked up.

Two men stepped into the store. All dressed in black, with skull balaclavas covering their faces. One pointed his gun at Joseph. The other had his weapon aimed at him and Penryn.

Joseph’s unlit cigarette fell out of his mouth. His hands immediately went up. Raphael all but shoved Penryn behind him on the floor.

Fuck. This was third time this week he was unarmed and had a gun pointed out it.

It was almost enough to make him believe in a vengeful god.

“You may have everything in the cash register,” said Joseph evenly. “You can take whatever you like and leave. We will not call the police.”

“Fuck the register,” said the gunman in the red skull balaclava. He cocked his weapon. “We want the goods in the back.”

“I do not know what you speak of.”

“Don’t blame games, old man! Either you show it to us now or I’ll put a bullet through your fucking knee!”

“Or through their goddamn heads,” piped up the man in the white skull balaclava, who had his gun pointed at Penryn and himself. Raphael could feel Penryn trembling behind him.

Joseph pressed his lips together so tightly his mouth looked like a white line.

“I will show you,” he said. “Come with me.”

“Stay on those two,” Red Skull said to White Skull. Red Skull spun Joseph around and pressed a gun to the back, shoving him towards the stockroom.

Raphael watched White Skull cooly from the floor. Twitchy, constantly shuffling his feet, glancing towards the entrance of the storeroom. He didn’t seem to know how to hold his own weapon, either holding it too loosely or gripping it too tight.

Clearly not the brains of the operation--that would be Red Skull. Of course, both of them were a particularly dull shade of stupid. They had stormed into the store in masks and guns in the middle of the fucking day.

They clearly weren’t from the Brotherhood. But he had no idea how they discovered that Joseph’s store often housed commodities of questionable legality. Hell, even he didn’t know about all the goods that had passed through this store and he didn’t like to think what they could find in the back. Best case scenario, it would be drugs or stolen merchandise.

In any case, Red Skull and White Skull were screwed. Did they think that with all the chaos going on they would get away with robbing the Brotherhood? Not a chance. The Brotherhood would come after them with all the righteous fury of hell. They’d track him down and exact their vengeance.

Raphael should know. _Wrath had been my specialty._

Even if these two idiots couldn’t figure that out, they had to at least know that they couldn’t leave any trace of themselves behind. Which was very, very bad news for him, Joseph, and Penryn.

He glanced over his shoulder at her. Her face was dead white and her eyes were filled with terror. She looked like she was trying hard not to whimper out loud.

_Not so fun being on the other side of a weapon, huh? Karma’s a bitch._

It was a cruel and unfair thought. She might act tough, but she was a civilian. She clearly couldn’t handle this kind of life.

He’d get her out of this.

Raphael heard Joseph yell from the stockroom. His cry was dwarfed by the crack of the gun, echoing throughout the store.

White Skull turned his head to look towards the storeroom.

_Good enough_.

Raphael sprang up and grabbed the inside of White Skull’s arm, dragging him towards him while his free hand reached for the gun. The firearm clattered to the ground. White Skull’s fist wildly landed on Raphael’s shoulder, right over his still-recovering wound.

Raphael’s world went white with pain. He came back just in time to feel White Skull’s punch him in gut. It almost brought him to his knees.

Penryn shot up from the ground jammed her fist into White Skull’s throat. White Skull staggered back wheezing. She went in for the kill and slammed her knee into his crotch. He doubled over, throat too bruised to cry out.

_She fights dirty and mean._

His kind of girl.

Raphael strode forward and sucker punched him in the face. White Skull crumpled to the ground.

Raphael kicked him in the head to knock him out. And then kicked him in the ribs because he was also a dirty, mean bastard of a fighter.

He turned to Penryn. She had picked up the gun.

Their eyes locked.

For a moment, he thought she’d pick up where they started and point it at him. His gut twisted. Maybe this time she’d actually shoot him just for all trouble he had brought into her life.

Seemed only fair.

Instead, she held out her hand and offered the weapon to him.

He took it. His rough fingertips brushed her palm. His gut twisted in a whole new way.

She looked at the door to the stockroom and then back at him. He nodded.

She ducked behind the counter and found Joseph’s baseball bat.

The corner of his lip quirked up for a moment. She didn’t notice.

They both moved towards the stockroom. The door was wide open. Raphael motioned Penryn to step back, out of sight.

He peered inside. Red Skull was rummaging through a crate with one hand, while his other one . His back was to the door. Moron.

Off to the side, he saw Joseph’s body crumpled on the floor, surrounded in a pool of his own blood, creeping out slowly.

He crept forward towards Red Skull. He didn’t even notice until Raffe had a gun pressed to his back.

“Drop your weapon now. One wrong move and I’ll shoot.”

Red Skull twisted, tried to grab Raphael’s arm.

Raphael pulled the trigger.

Red Skull’s body jerked and then fell onto the crate.

Raphael picked up Red Skull’s gun and stepped back, watching as the blood seeped out from Red Skull’s back. He had flecks of it on his hands, on the sweatshirt that Penryn had given to him.

Carefully, he pulled off Red Skull’s mask. When a man kills someone, he should at least have the decency to remember the poor bastard’s face.

“Is he dead?” Penryn stood at the doorway. She wasn’t looking at Red Skull, but at Joseph.

No. Joseph had lost way too much blood to still be alive. But he checked for a pulse anyway, for her sake. He shook his head.

Penryn bit her lip and put down the baseball bat. She surveyed the carnage that taken place in that room. Horror, revulsion, misery, pity--he saw it all flicker through those dark eyes.

He thought she would either burst into tears or throw up. She did neither. She just wrapped her arms around herself and stared.

Raphael set the safety back on for both the guns and tucked them both behind his waistband.

“We should go,” she said. She didn’t move.

He grabbed Penryn’s hand.

Raphael led her out the other door in the stockroom and into the miraculously empty backlot. She let him guide her down the street.

Don’t run, don’t walk too fast--it’ll look suspicious. Keep your head down or look at me. Hold on to me. You’ll be ok, you’ll be fine. Just hold onto me.

Raphael led her to the abandoned church that Penryn had told him about. He had been lying low there for a couple of days, but he wasn’t sure why he took her there.

The church was small, but the windows high on the wall and roof that filtered sunlight through made it seem big. Most of the pews were gone or knocked over and the platform for the priest or minister or whatever other type of holy man was completely bare.

Penryn sat down on one of the remaining intact pews.

“Thanks,” he finally said. _For saving my life. Again_. “You did good there.”

She looked up at him and nodded. “You, too.”

Raphael sat down on the floor across from her, leaning back against the stage.

She handled herself well in a crisis, better than he could ever have suspected. The image of her springing up, eyes blazing and sparring ruthless against an opponent twice her size--that would be burned into his brain for a long time. He had to stop underestimating her. At the same time, there was a limit to what any person could deal with.

Crisis was one thing. The bloody fallout that came after was a whole other beast.

Raphael felt a twinge of regret that she had to learn that lesson.

She finally spoke again.

“They weren’t from the Brotherhood, were they? Red Skull and White Skull?”

“No.”

“But Joseph was?”

“Yes.”

She shook her head and slumped. “You guys really are everywhere.”

“That’s the goal.”

“Why were you at the store anyway?”

He shrugged. “It’s none of your concern. Why were you at the store?”

“I needed a job. I still need one. You’re not answering my question.”

“You got lucky. Joseph would have been terrible boss.”

Shit. She looked ready to start crying again.

She fought it, wrestled back control before the emotion took over her.

“You can’t leave me in the dark. You need to tell me something.”

He didn’t need to do anything. He could tell her to get lost, to be grateful that she was still alive. To go back to her home and her family and pretend that all this never happened while the city fell apart around her. 

It’s what he should do, what he will do.

Instead he said, “Fine. I’ll tell you.”


End file.
